The Whole Earth Software Catalogue: A Guide to All PC Software in One Volume

In 1984 Stewart Brand issued The Whole Earth Software Catalog, to do for computing what the Whole Earth Catalog had done for the counterculture: identify and recommend the best tools as they emerged. Notably, at this early stage in the history of personal computing all available software could be well described in a single volume. A large glossy book published in Sausalito, California,  the Catalog was written in a glib, conversational style that took "most of the bugs out of microprocessing."